Ex Guns N' Roses Drummer Steven Adler Says He First Tried Heroin to Fit in with Bandmates Slash and Izzy Stradlin

Guns N’ Roses has had six drummers in its nearly 40-year existence, and the one who helped them rise to fame in the late ’80s became the first victim of the band’s excesses.

In the new documentary series Paramount+ in three parts Nothing But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metaldrummer Steven Adler, 59, talks about his five-year involvement in An appetite for destructionfrom the Guns N’ Roses era. Unfortunately, his time with the group was cut short by an addiction to heroin.

Steven Adler in 1985.

Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

In a new interview filmed for the documentary, which charts the course of hair metal through the ’80s and early ’90s, when the arrival of grunge turned hair metal bands into dinosaurs, Steven explains how he got hooked. He begins by saying that he wasn’t the only person in the band who abused drugs.

See a young Axl Rose, Steven Adler and the rest of Guns N’ Roses in these amazing vintage photos

“Who do you think I was doing them with? When I started doing heroin, I wanted to be a part of what [G N’ R lead guitarist] Slash and [rhythm guitarist] Izzy [Stradlin] “, he recalls in episode 3. “I got hit twice, I’ve never been so sick in my life.”

“And don’t you know what I’m like ——-, I had to try again,” he continues. “And the third time was the charm. I fell in love with him.”

Steven Adler (left) and Slash.

Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

Eventually his addiction got so bad that he was kicked out of the band. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the wake-up call it should have been.

“I’ve always loved the whole team,” says Adler. “That’s why it was very important for me to get a band together, where we work together and create something. And then when my team kicked me out, I didn’t know what to do. I know that I could have gotten better or continued doing what I was doing, I continued to do what I I worked.

In a taped interview with MTV’s Kurt Loder from the early ’90s, frontman Axl Rose explains how Adler’s departure from the band went down during the recording of the 1991 album. Use your Illusion and Use your illusion II.

“Steven didn’t leave the band,” says Rose. “Steven got fired. We gave him all the ultimatums. We made Steven sign a contract that said if he goes back to drugs, he’s out. He couldn’t quit drugs.”

Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler hospitalized after possible suicide attempt

Guns N’ Roses replaced Adler with Cult’s Matt Sorum. Adler spent many of the following years in a sort of rock & roll wilderness. He struggled with health problems (including a stroke in 1996) and had run-ins with the law (domestic violence charge in 1997). He also joined several other bands as he continued to struggle with addiction.

Steven Adler 2018

Michael Tullberg/Getty

Since being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of the classic lineup of GN’ Ra, Adler, who has had several periods of sobriety since 2008, has performed several times with the band.

Whether or not he regrets how things ended, Adler is clearly grateful for his contribution to the Gun N’ Roses legacy and his time with the band. “I just loved being part of a team,” he says, “and Guns N’ Roses, the five of us, was a great f—— team.

Nothing But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metal now streaming on Paramount+.

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Source: HIS Education